Dance Rites

Dance rites was one of the events that was not able to go ahead in 2020 due to Covid.

Our Hub were hired to travel around to all the different nations within NSW to capture some of our Deadly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Dance Groups that wanted to enter into this competition. The work was done with the support of understanding how to shoot through COVID-19 and help create manuals and support for other film crews around Australia.

Visit the website DANCERITES - Sydney Opera House

19 & 20 October 2024

DanceRites is Australia’s national First Nations dance competition, and will be held on the Sydney Opera House Forecourt on 19 and 20 October 2024.

Dance groups from across the nation will share their culture and compete for the $22,000 DanceRites prize. The competition is open to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community dance groups.

Each dance group will present a Cultural Dance and Song Cycle representing local storytelling and language and can also take part in a second optional category, presenting a ‘Wild Card’ dance.

Prizes
The winning group will receive $22,000.
One group will be awarded runner-up with a prize of $6,000.
Two groups will be honoured with a Rites of Passage award of $4,000 each, to acknowledge outstanding contributions to revitalising cultural knowledge and practices.
One group will be awarded the best Wild Card dance with a prize of $5,000.

Important dates

Wednesday 10 April 2024
Registrations for DanceRites open

Wednesday 22 May 2024
Registrations for DanceRites close

Friday 18 October 2024
Official welcome for Participants

Saturday 19 October 2024
Day One of DanceRites

Sunday 20th October 2024
Day Two of DanceRites

How to register

Visit the website DANCERITES - Sydney Opera House